Roasted Roma Tomatoes

Sometimes, you need a little color on the plate when planning a menu for a dinner party. Such was the case when my sewing group got together recently for our annual dinner party.

Fortunately, one of our friends excels at menu planning and volunteered to organize the meal and divvy up the jobs. I was tasked with making roasted tomatoes for twenty. While I have sautéed tomatoes for marinara sauce, puréed them for gazpacho, and sliced them for salads, I have never cooked them as a side dish. The challenge was on.

I was a little worried about finding flavorful tomatoes in the middle of winter. I went to Whole Foods and asked an employee in the produce department which tomato she thought was the most flavorful. I loved her response: she pulled out her paring knife and said, “Let’s see.” We tried three different tomatoes, and the Romas won out.

After considering various ways to prepare them, I did what came naturally to me: I tossed them in olive oil, sea salt, and garlic pepper and roasted them. Clean and simple.

I roasted them for one hour at 425º. I didn’t plan to cook them that long, but there was so much water in the tomatoes, it took a long time to concentrate the flavors. They were not leathery at all. They were lovely. Thanks for asking.